TESOL Colombia was launched back in 2015, with the mission in mind to help improve the level of language in the country, and to gather all teachers and institutions that work in English language teaching to see how they can share, collaborate, and inspire themselves to make things easier and better while teaching English to students.

This year at TESOL Colombia, we had Fernando Valenzuela, renowned edtech expert and contributor for EdTech Times in Latin America, interview a number of educators and other experts at the Universidad de La Sabana in Chía, Colombia.

Here are just a few of their stories about English language learning and innovating in education in Colombia and beyond.

Introducing our host: Fernando Valenzuela

One of the most well-known edtech “edupreneurs” in Latin America, Fernando Valenzuela Migoya traveled to TESOL Colombia this year to meet with a number of English language educators at Universidad de la Sabana. While he was there, he interviewed a number of these educators about what they are doing to innovate in the field of English language education.

But before you get into those interviews, listen to Fernando’s own thoughts about ESL in Latin America, and the importance of integrating technology into those lessons.

Once TESOL Colombia was created, Gonzalez made sure to bring the organization to various other TESOL groups around the globe to network and connect. The goal was to make TESOL Colombia part of TESOL International.

Learn more about Gonzalez’s work and the mission behind TESOL Colombia:

Countries all over the world are striving to learn English as a non-native language. Colombia, as well as the rest of Latin America, is no exception to this craze.

David Deubelbeiss has catered to this frenzy first-hand. He has been a teacher all over the world for more than 30 years, and in the last 10 years he has helped create an English language learning software company called EnglishCentral. We sat down with him to talk about his experiences in introducing his EnglishCentral’s software in different parts of the world — particularly in Latin America.

English teachers can be found all over the world—even in those countries where English is not the first language. These days, you might say especially in countries where English is a second language. And while adventurous native English speakers have been traveling across the world to teach English as the language’s popularity grows, some argue that locals should be learning to teach English instead.

At TESOL Colombia, we sat down with Catalonian English professor Enric Llurda to talk about non-native English speakers and their increasing role in teaching the language.

Chief Technology Officer of IBM Colombia, Jorge Vergara, joins the EdTech Times podcast to discuss TESOL Colombia’s showcase of cognitive tools and science as well as what IBM Colombia is focusing on today in regards to education.

More photos from TESOL Colombia:

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Hannah Nyren is the General Manager of EdTech Times. A Texan by birth but a Bostonian at heart, Hannah is an educational writer, AmeriCorps alum, and one-time StartupWeekend EDU (SWEDU) winning team member. She started her career at a Pearson-incubated edtech startup, but has since covered travel, food & culture, and even stonemasonry in addition to education.